A warm “Welcome!” to Steve Jones, who gave us a wonderful intro the the big Whys? related to Communication Technology. I am looking forward to his talk tomorrow, on the impact of New New Communication technologies.
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Finally, as Steve was speaking a number of readings that discuss the issues he mentioned–collaborative technological creation and building networks of networks–came to my mind
- Boorstin’s Republic of Technology – How technology moves society and democracy ahead (and vice versa)
- Fisher’s America Calling – Describes how telephony developed through self-help and collaborative efforts. At some point the farmers used barbed-wire fences instead of classical wires hung from poles to connect to their neighbors.
- The On-line Interaction and Facilitation Class Syllabus and Wellman’s work on social circles on and off line
- If you want to take a look at As We May Think
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You can access the full text of the last two readings by using the username and password I gave you.
Another really interesting book that follows up on what I said about Cato is “Night in the Middle Ages,” the author’s name escapes me but I’m sure you can find it easily.